Dermatological manifestations are considered to be on the most common causes of morbidity in humans. Included are any insult to the skin and ranging from minor abrasions, sunburn, to the severe fungal and viral lesions. The incidence of the majority of the minor skin afflictions are difficult to determine since patients rarely seek medical treatment.
Most viral infections of the skin are caused by the Herpes viruses. The most common of these is Herpes labialis (cold sores or fever blisters) caused by Herpes simplex (estimated cases per annum in the U.S. of the recurrent infections are 100,000,000). Genital infections are caused by Herpes Simplex I (estimated cases per annum in the U.S. of recurrent infections are 20,000,000) and is the third most important sexually transmitted disease. Chicken pox is caused by Varicella zoster virus (estimated cases per annum in the U.S. are 3,800,000) and the latent form of this virus (Herpes zoster) causes shingles and the estimated cases per annum in the U.S. are 2,000,000. Dermatophyte infections are also very common but the incidence in the U.S. is not known.
Treatment for the minor skin afflictions generally involve mixtures of camphor, menthol, acids, phenol, lanolin, or high concentrations of alcohol. Some include the pain killer lidocaine. The following references teach some of these treatments and methods:
1. Nichols described an alcohol-glycerine solution of salicylic acid and boric acid for treatment of ringworm (athlete's foot).
2. Prehn described a salicylic acid menthol and camphor mixture in a boric acid and starch vehicle for treatment of fungus infections and dermatitis.
3. Shelton described a tannin, phenolic and boric acid mixture for treatment of various skin infections.
4. Jekel described a tannin boric acid product for treatment of various dermatophyte infections.
For the treatment of viral infections treatments have been described that consist of using either (i) a combination of acids, where the acids are at high concentrations, or (ii) long chain aliphatic alcohols. The following references describe some such treatments for viral skin diseases:
1. Tinnel described a mixture of boric acid, salicyclic acid, and tannic acid (2-12:2-12:1-6%) specifically for the treatment of Herpes infections. Two examples in this reference (Nos. 8 and 13) describe the treatment of genital Herpes on the vulva with very high concentration acid mixtures (15% boric acid, 7% salicylic acid, and 15% tannic acid) in an ethanol carrier.
2. Katz described a composition of C-20 to C-26 aliphatic alcohols in a variety of carriers for the treatment of viral and inflammatory diseases of the skin.
In vitro inhibition of Herpes viruses by chemically defined plant extracts (Fukuchi et al.), marine algae (Erhsmann et al., 1977), and glycyrrhizin, from the licorice plant (Baba et al., 1987), has also been shown.
Experiments performed in support of the present invention have lead to the discovery of a topical spray that is efficacious in the treatment of minor skin afflictions and Herpes infections. The composition of the present invention contains no alcohols, corticosteroid or -caines (e.g., lidocaine).